I broke a toe when I slammed my left foot into the 55-gallon oil drum. Watching it tumble down the steep hill toward the harbor eased the pain in my foot and the burning anger in my chest.

I drew a puff on my pipe, scratched the five o’clock shadow on my face, and pushed my fedora forward. I smirked as I cocked my head toward the clangs, bangs, and thumps as the drum slammed against rocks and decomposed logs, careening down to the water.

It was 2:00 a.m. in Port Angeles, Washington. Guiding my new, 1931 Ford Model A Coupe with care, I’d found a logging road that led to a section of the harbor where no one lived, worked, nor moored any sea-going vessels. A place as dead and lifeless as a cold body in a coffin.

My face relaxed as the container splashed into the murky tide water with a heavy sound and sank. I stared at the ripples until they disappeared. My anger vanished with them.

“Serves him right,” I muttered to myself as I pushed back my fedora and relit my pipe. I turned to limp back to my car, parked where the darkness of the forest mirrored the darkness of my heart.

“John, I found God.” That’s what my brother Luke told me when he got out of prison. He started butting into my moonshine business. He threatened to report my operations to the local Revenuers.

Well, he’s with God, now.

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© Copyright 2018—Present, Jenise Cook, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

First Published: 1 January 2018, Postcard Shorts (RIP)

Image credit: Unknown. If you know the creator of this image, please contact me so I can provide credit and honor copyright. I haven’t been able to find the original source.

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Happy New Years Day 2018!

“Serves Him Right!” Published

When I woke up this morning and checked my email Inbox, I was shocked and pleased to see a message from the editors of Postcardshorts.com

I had submitted my micro-fiction piece, “Serves Him Right!”, to them as well as to about two dozen other flash fiction publications.

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Dear Jenise Cook

Thank you for submitting your story "Serves Him Right!", it has now been published on Postcard Shorts.

Postcard Shorts runs an editorial panel which reviews every story. A story must get a majority vote from the panel in order to be published.

Kind regards

Richard
Editor, Postcard Shorts
Email: editor@postcardshorts.com
www.postcardshorts.com
Follow us on Twitter:   https://twitter.com/PostcardShorts

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The Story behind the Story

This Cain and Abel story in the crime fiction genre is under 300 words, a challenge in storytelling that I love. May 1, 2017, I joined Scribophile after I had “won” the April Camp NaNoWriMo. Members of “Scrib” read and critiqued my story, I made revisions, and now it’s published! I submitted the announcement to the community, and you can see it on the right side of the image below:

 

 

Thank you, Richard and the Editorial Panel of Postcardshorts.com for making 2018’s first day a celebration for me.

Note: Effective 1 November 2018, Postcard Shorts had to shutter their site. Very sad news.

Here's the screenshot of my story on their former site. I'm sad for them, and hope they will be back online soon.

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Your Turn

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Thank you for reading. Come along on my adventures.

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